City of Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero has survived a motion of no confidence brought against him during a council sitting on 25 June 2025, maintaining his position despite mounting criticism over service delivery failures across the metro.
The results of the vote saw 144 councillors reject the motion, 75 support it, and 43 abstain—ensuring Morero remains at the helm of South Africa’s largest city. Those voting to keep him included ANC, EFF, Patriotic Alliance (PA) and several smaller parties.
The no-confidence motion was tabled by the Democratic Alliance (DA), the second-largest party in the Johannesburg council, on 7 May 2025. DA caucus leader Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku accused the mayor of overseeing a city in decline, citing widespread service delivery collapse and administrative mismanagement.
“Under the current leadership, basic services are crumbling, communities are being neglected, and the very machinery of local government is grinding to a halt,” said Kayser-Echeozonjoku during the debate. She also claimed the council speaker had failed to act impartially, undermining the ability to hold the executive to account.
Despite agreeing with much of the criticism, ActionSA, the third-largest party with 44 out of 270 seats, chose to abstain from the vote. The party played a key role in Morero’s initial appointment as mayor in August 2024, and its stance was seen as pivotal in determining the outcome of the motion.
ActionSA’s Gauteng provincial chairperson Funzi Ngobeni openly criticised Morero’s leadership, pointing to escalating water and electricity outages, broken road infrastructure, and the dysfunction of municipal entities like City Power.
“Across Johannesburg, it has become a universal reality that service delivery is collapsing,” Ngobeni stated.
However, Ngobeni said that while ActionSA was “unequivocal” in its view that Morero had failed the city, the party opted to abstain from voting because of concerns about the DA’s approach to the motion.
“We had no clarity on what alternative leadership would replace the current coalition, and there was a lack of consultation. We cannot be expected to support a motion that leaves a governance vacuum,” he said.
The situation reflects the broader instability in Gauteng metros following South Africa’s 2024 general elections, where the ANC lost its majority nationally. While a Government of National Unity (GNU) has been formed at the national level with the DA and smaller parties, no such agreement has been reached in Gauteng, where tensions between the ANC and DA continue to play out in municipal governance.
The result is a deadlock in Johannesburg, a metro that has seen seven different mayors in the last seven years. The instability has severely affected service delivery, with residents frequently facing power outages, water cuts, and deteriorating infrastructure.
Political analysts say the latest no-confidence vote result further illustrates the fractured state of coalition politics in the country’s most important urban centres.
In Johannesburg, the ANC governs in a shaky alliance with smaller parties and informal support from ActionSA, despite no formal coalition agreement. The DA, meanwhile, has been left on the sidelines and continues to battle for a more structured power-sharing arrangement.
Residents across the city have grown increasingly frustrated with the lack of accountability and continuity at the municipal level. Calls for stronger leadership, effective governance, and consistent service delivery are rising as political leaders remain locked in power struggles.
With no clear resolution in sight, Johannesburg’s challenges—ranging from deteriorating infrastructure to administrative paralysis—are expected to persist unless coalition dynamics stabilise and long-term governance plans are agreed upon.
